The Navajo Nation issued a statement demanding the delay of an upcoming moon mission which will carry cremated human remains, reportedly forcing the White House to intervene, the group confirmed.
The White House and other government officials reportedly had a last-minute meeting Friday with the Navajo Nation president, Buu Nygren, after he had expressed “objections” Thursday to a scheduled moon mission set to take off Jan. 8, according to AZ Mirror. Following the meeting with White House officials, NASA, the U.S. Department of Transportation and other partners, Nygren stated there should have been proper tribal consultation, the outlet reported.
“If we didn’t issue the letter, these discussions wouldn’t have been happening,” Nygren stated during a press conference. (RELATED: Supreme Court Rules Against Navajo Nation In Dispute Over Water Rights)
The Navajo Nation, one of the largest groups of Native Americans in the U.S., released a press statement Thursday expressing Nygren’s “objection” to the launch of the United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket which will be carrying human remains. Nygren stated the placement of remains on the moon would be a “profound desecration.”
“The placement of human remains on the moon is a profound desecration of this celestial body revered by our people,” Nygren stated. “This act disregards past agreements and promises of respect and consultation between NASA and the Navajo Nation, notably following the Lunar Prospector mission in 1998.”
The Navajo Nation president additionally claimed he sent letters on Dec. 21, 2023 to both the U.S. Department of Transportation and NASA detailing the reasons for stopping the launch.
The Vulcan Centaur rocket is scheduled to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It will be carrying the cremated remains and DNA of Celetis Tranquility Flight participants, according to Celestis. NASA has stated the mission is not specifically part of their agency, but rather a Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, which helps private companies deliver science and technology to the moon, according to the AZ Mirror. (RELATED: Perseverance Rover Discovers Evidence Of Ancient Lake On Mars, Reaches 1,000 Days On Red Planet)
“These lunar missions are the company’s commercial mission,” Chris Culbert, CLPS program manager at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, stated Thursday. “These are not NASA missions.”
The Celetis Tranquility Flight is a memorial carrying the cremated remains and DNA of “intrepid souls who never stopped reaching for the stars,” according to the site.
“This will mark the first commercial robotic launch to the moon surface,” NASA Public Affairs Specialist Antonia Jaramillo stated Friday.
The scheduled launch is reportedly Celestis’ second moon mission, servicing 66 participants with pricing starting at $12,995, according to the AZ Mirror.
Prior to the upcoming launch, the only ashes that had been sent to the moon were of Eugene Shoemaker, a former geologist and planetary scientist, in 1998, which was requested by NASA, the outlet reported.
Celestis CEO and co-founder Charles Chafer emailed a statement to Space.com following the pushback from Nygren, noting “no one, and no religion, owns the moon.”
“The regulatory process that approves space missions does not consider compliance with the tenets of any religion in the process for obvious reasons. No individual religion can or should dictate whether a space mission should be approved,” Chafer stated to the outlet. “No one, and no religion, owns the moon, and, were the beliefs of the world’s multitude of religions considered, it’s quite likely that no missions would ever be approved.”
“Simply, we do not and never have let religious beliefs dictate humanity’s space efforts — there is not and should not be a religious test.”